Media Relations, Inc., with five U.S. offices, takes issue with the predominate PR pricing model — by the hour, with no guarantee that press contacts will result in actual publicity. How would you feel if pizza was sold that way — “By the hour with no guarantee you would get a pizza…”

A good analogy, perhaps. Via their “Placement Examples” link, Media Relations, Inc., displays plenty of evidence that their counter model — selling publicity by the story — works. That is, they guarantee that clients get coverage, or the client doesn't pay.

The “anti-pizza” firm places a heavy emphasis on solid content - “content interesting enough to clear the high bar set by the media,” and that can be used in other channels, “such as websites, social media, personal selling and even advertising.”

Speaking of advertising, Media Relations’ prices might seem stiff — on average about $2,000 for each story they generate — but they amount, the firm figures, to “about one-tenth the price of ads.”

Doug Bedell has a background in journalism and PR and is the owner of Resource Relations LLC in Central PA, focusing on organizational and crisis communication. He’s the community manager of SimplyFair.net, a social network on fairness. On the Web, Doug’s at www.ResourceRelations.com. On Twitter, he’s @DougBeetle.